Human rights policy

At Autodesk, we are working to design a better world, where all people live well and within the limits of the planet. Human rights are fundamental to living well and we embrace our responsibility and opportunity to respect and promote human rights across our business, as outlined in our Human Rights Policy.

Autodesk supports and upholds these rights as outlined in the International Bill of Human Rights, which includes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. We also support the rights described in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Demonstrating our commitment, we endorse the United Nations Global Compact and the human rights and labour principles it includes.

Consistent with Autodesk’s culture of ethical behaviour, integrity and respect, we work to continually refine our business practices to reflect our commitment to human rights. Below are our policies and activities related to human rights as they affect our employees, our suppliers and business practices and our customers.

We support and value our diverse workforce and do not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment of our employees, contractors or temporary workers anywhere in the world, including during our selection process. Our Code of Business Conduct (CoBC)(US site) conveys our values and expectations for business conduct in a broad range of areas, including equal opportunity and nondiscrimination.

To protect employee health and safety, our injury and illness prevention programme covers employee and visitor safety issues, such as evaluation of workplace hazards, accident investigations and compliance with safe and healthy work practices. We have also established site-specific emergency response plans.

Employees who suspect a violation of the law, our CoBC, Human Rights Policy or any other Autodesk policy can report their concerns without fear of retaliation. (See hotline details in our CoBC (US site).)

In early 2013, we established our Partner Code of Conduct, which outlines the standards and practices we expect our resellers and distributors to follow while conducting business with or on behalf of Autodesk. The code specifies that business partners must support internationally recognised human rights and comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding health and safety in the workplace, the eradication of human trafficking and slavery and the elimination of child labour. In addition, we expect our partners to support fair labour practices, including the freedom to associate and to provide a work environment that is free from harassment and discrimination. A violation of the Partner Code of Conduct constitutes a breach of agreement with Autodesk and may result in action up to and including termination of status as an Autodesk partner.

Although the Partner Code of Conduct does not currently apply to suppliers, we value suppliers who have made commitments to human rights principles and demonstrate strong labour practices. Some of our major suppliers have well-established policies and programmes in this area.

Autodesk and its subsidiaries worldwide respect the rights of our customers and website visitors and our obligations with regard to privacy and personal information. Our Privacy Statement (US site) explains how we collect, store, use, share, transfer and retain personal information. All of our employees, contractors and subsidiaries are required to abide by our Privacy Statement. They also must adhere to more detailed internal policies regarding Autodesk’s overall data protection requirements and privacy principles.

Autodesk encourages our customers to promote human rights, including when appropriate through the use of our products. Autodesk does not support the use of our products in a way that harms human rights. For more information, see Autodesk’s Statement on Human Rights related to the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010.

Integrity is one of Autodesk’s core values. We believe that running our business with integrity includes managing our supply chain in an ethical and socially responsible way and promoting and protecting human rights wherever we do business.

Although we are primarily a software company and the vast majority of our products and services are software, we do manufacture a limited number of hardware products. Like many companies in the technology industry, we are concerned by reports that trade in conflict minerals mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and adjoining countries (the ‘Covered Countries’) may be funding violent militias that have committed atrocities in those countries. These minerals include tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold, each of which is often used in electronics.

Autodesk supports industry-wide efforts to encourage responsible sourcing of conflict minerals and transparency in supply chains, including efforts by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, which has established supply chain standards to promote social, ethical and environmental responsibility. Furthermore, in 2012, the US Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a rule pursuant to Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that requires publicly-traded companies to disclose whether the products they manufacture or contract to manufacture contain necessary conflict minerals that originate from the Covered Countries and, if so, to disclose information about the source and chain of custody of those conflict minerals (the ‘conflict minerals rule’).

Autodesk continues to comply with the conflict minerals rule and we are committed to working with our direct suppliers to ensure transparency in our supply chain. We expect our direct suppliers to assist us in our ongoing compliance and due diligence efforts by providing all necessary information using the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template developed by the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative. Autodesk will evaluate the information provided by its suppliers and to the extent those responses indicate a risk that the supplier is not complying with this Policy, Autodesk management reserves the right to evaluate the supplier relationship and take any appropriate action. Finally, we have implemented a conflict minerals due diligence programme that is designed to conform, in all material respects, with the due diligence framework set forth in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s ‘Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas’.